Five applicants qualified for the offshore wind auction for Sørlige Nordsjø II
Press release | Date: 16/02/2024 | Ministry of Energy
After a thorough review, five applicants are approved for the auction round for Sørlige Nordsjø II. The auction opens Monday 18th of March at 9 AM GMT +1/Norwegian time zone.
’Today, we can announce that several strong applicants have been qualified to participate in the auction for offshore wind for Sørlige Nordsjø II. We have decided to proceed with the auction, which will begin on the 18th of March. I look forward to a good auction between these companies’, said Minister of Energy Terje Aasland.
On the 29th of March 2023, the first competitions for project areas for offshore wind on the Norwegian continental shelf were announced. On the 15th of November, the ministry received seven applications. The qualified applicants have documented that they meet the minimum criteria for sustainability and positive ripple effects. These applicants also meet the prequalification criterion of implementation ability.
The following are qualified to participate in the auction:
- Aker Offshore Wind, BP og Statkraft
- Equinor og RWE
- Norseman Wind (Energie Baden-Württemberg AG)
- Shell, Lyse og Eviny
- Ventyr (Parkwind og Ingka)
The auction will be conducted as an English auction with open bidding. In the auction, the qualified players will compete for state support by submitting increasingly lower bids until one bidder remains. The player with the lowest bid in øre/kWh wins the auction.
For competitive reasons, the bidding in the auction will be closed to the public. After the auction, the ministry will publish the name of the auction winner and the size of the winning bid (strike price). The winning bid determines the strike price that forms the basis of the two-way contract for difference.
Background on the government's offshore wind initiative:
The government has an ambition to award areas that has potential for 30,000 MW of offshore wind production by 2040. In 2020, the first areas on the Norwegian continental shelf were opened for offshore renewable energy production, and the authorities have since worked to further develop the regulatory framework in close cooperation with the industry and other users of the sea. On the 29th of March 2023, the first project areas for offshore wind on the Norwegian continental shelf were announced.